anybody ever make one? no, im not talking about picking up a stick. i have some of the cheaper wally world collapsible hiking poles and was thinking about gutting them to make one static length pole. anybody done that before?

I've thought about making one, and I have an opinion on how you should.
Does that count? :D

i would love to hear it. let me tell you what ive done so far. ive takent the poles apart (3 parts and figured to get a pole my height i would need to use 5 of the 6 total poles. im thinking rivets. now.....go.

heerzinwaddiwaddoo...

I would first decide what all I would want to use it for. Hiking staff? Vaulting pole? Tent or tarp pole? Fishing rod? Self defence weapon? Hunting or fishing spear? Hunting or fishing bow? Chimney for miniature wood stove? Then I would decide how it might be designed and built. Then I would see if there are already some suitable products or materials out there to make it with.

Then I would just make a long staff like Little John, because they are way cool. :D

Didn't have a long staff, but still very funny...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAs2m7Hr3Bc

"Stand and deliver!"

I think that you might damage the integrity of the pole when riveting it. Maybe something like JB weld might be better.

i would love to hear it. let me tell you what ive done so far. ive takent the poles apart (3 parts and figured to get a pole my height i would need to use 5 of the 6 total poles. im thinking rivets. now.....go.I wouldn't use rivets. I would use epoxy. Why are you using multiple poles? Is it to approximate a tapering by using available tubing? That's not a bad idea. Not ideal, but what you lose on weight and strength you can make up for a wee bit by using different materials where they are most suited.

this is funny cause i just referenced my trip to shennandoah but the last time i was up there my hiking partner had bought some cheepo poles from dicks or some such store. anyway being the thickheaded man i am proclaimed that i had never used poles, and never will. I also at that point had limited backpacking experience. anyway, after our first day of hiking we stopped at pinefield hut i believe and i was wrecked my feet were so sore that i could hardley walk after sitting down to relax for a few. as we all know the day is not done when you get to camp and there is walking to be done. I used my friends poles to go fetch water, a mesley 50 or 60 feet from the shelter but the difference was felt right away. i came back proclaiming that i will never hike without poles again! (mental flip-flopper) so i regretably cut downthe straightest saplings i could find and fashioned some poles for myself natures way, with a knife. i used extra rope to tightly wrap around the "handles" and an extra loop for a leash. i was so proud of myself! I still have those poles to this date, they have taken me through about 200 mi of hiking in the past two years. i do want to update and find two poles/saplings that are more similar and lighter. i need to switch off hands cause ones a little heavier than the other. but thats what you get when your rushed to make something before the next day of hiking, there was no way i could go another step that day without the help of some poles.
the end.

Another idea is a combination of telescoping but fixed straight tubes as you descibe, combined with reinforcing it with fibreglass or kevlar or carbon fibre tape, but only in certain places. You might also design it with replaceable tips, or use existing replaceable tips. Not sure what they should be made from. How long are these? Are these to be regular hiking stick length, or longer like a single hiking staff?

How about just picking up some ski poles at the end of the season? Lots of lengths available, not too heavy, and no weak spots due to assembling multiple pieces.

I have a Huckleerry pole that was stained and covered with lacquer. It is taller than my head but it is very light and very useful, especially on down hill going. I found out on my first section hike that it was needed. My son had a wally world special that colipsed the first day and had to be taped.
So be careful what you take hicking.

i want this to be a hiking staff. i dont want to use two poles. by being about 5'9" it will serve also as a spear against cujos. i really looked at the luxurylite pole but just cant do the scratch. so i thought using these cheap aluminum poles would do the trick. why you people hating on rivets??? surely that is stronger than jb weld. i mean... i be loving me some jb but it aint made for beating on.

How about just picking up some ski poles at the end of the season? Lots of lengths available, not too heavy, and no weak spots due to assembling multiple pieces.

ive looked for used ski poles. not very available here in gods country, texas

mine is made of drift wood. under a lb. strong and stainable. sassafrass works well, but heavier.

i want this to be a hiking staff. i dont want to use two poles. by being about 5'9" it will serve also as a spear against cujos. i really looked at the luxurylite pole but just cant do the scratch. so i thought using these cheap aluminum poles would do the trick. why you people hating on rivets??? surely that is stronger than jb weld. i mean... i be loving me some jb but it aint made for beating on.

Rivets will localize the stress. Using an epoxy will distribute it over the width of the rod. Thats why I be hatin' on dem ribets.

You're right, JB weld might not be the best, but find a good tough and resilient epoxy and you should be better off. I just see the poles breaking with the first tweak if you used rivets.

ok, type slow cause im confused. how would i apply the epoxy? all over the area where the two pieces meet up? and are we talking some of that two part stuff, with the catalyst and somesuch?

I have a little dogwood staff cut to use as the center pole (...actually the only pole...) of my Black Diamond Megalite. I use a bit of closed cell foam pipe insulation to make a handhold and a loop of nylon webbing. The foam and webbing are held on with hockey stick tape.

After I saw what happened to a larger version of my staff, The Stick, after it completed a thru-hike (...see The Thread for reference...) I epoxied a small metal cylinder to cover and protect the ground end.

i want this to be a hiking staff. i dont want to use two poles. by being about 5'9" it will serve also as a spear against cujos. i really looked at the luxurylite pole but just cant do the scratch. so i thought using these cheap aluminum poles would do the trick. why you people hating on rivets??? surely that is stronger than jb weld. i mean... i be loving me some jb but it aint made for beating on.Rivets aren't the strongest things, and can fail under repeated impact loads. Either that or tube will fail if it is a thin wall. Stainless rivets will cause the aluminum to corrode around them. Monel rivets are best with aluminum, but not very available. Epoxy should work very well. Sand the aluminum with fine sandpaper before you apply the epoxy.

I am not sure what the Wally world hiking poles are like. What about carbon fibre or carbon fibre reinforced fibreglass tubing or thin-walled aluminum tubing? There might be something available in your area instead of using a fiished product.

For a long staff I would use a straight uniform length of thin walled aluminum tubing about my own height, but very light and undersized for the job. Then I would reinforce the section from my hand grip down to about midway using fibreglass or carbon fibre if I could find it. This could be wound spiral in both directions, but a straight layer first, but that only for a smaller section. You can't add too much because you shouldn't have to add that much weight. Try to keep the resin to cloth ratio to a minimum. That is the hard part. Also sand it down between layers. Then I would add a replaceable tip for the bottom 6-12" or so. This might be pvc tubing reinforce on the inside with a wooden dowel. It should extend up about 2-3" into the aluminum tubing. You should maybe insert a 3-4" intermediary tube first to reinforce this joint, and it should be plugged on the upper end. It should be epoxied snuggly and permamently into the main tube. You replaceable tips should be glued with something less permament, that you can clean out when you need to replace a tip. Anyhow, those are just some ideas.

ok, type slow cause im confused. how would i apply the epoxy? all over the area where the two pieces meet up? and are we talking some of that two part stuff, with the catalyst and somesuch?That two part 5 or 10 minute epoxy works very well with aluminum. It has similar thermal expansion and bonds very well, but the aluminim should still be sanded first. Polyester resin does not bond as well with aluminum. Make sure the tubes you are fitting together are snug, but there is still some room for a thin coat of epoxy. Sand both parts, then apply the epoxy to the smaller tube and over insert about an inch and rotate it around within the outside tube and then retract it that inch to the overlap you want. You might have to experiment to get the right amount of overlap. Too much would add unneccessary weight. Too little would fail, either in sheer, or by too much wiggle. If the aluminum tubes are understrength to begin with you can overlap more and then reinforce the outside of the sections that are too weak, to get a tapered effect.

I wouldn't use epoxy for the replaceable tips, as it might be too difficult to remove. Perhaps a simple shrink fit with a plug on the end might work better there, or perhaps you could have a way of drilling it out when you need to replace a tip. Again, I would have an intermediary reinforcing tube between the main tube and the replaceable tip. For a replaceable tip you might use something commercially available if commercial hiking poles have replaceable tips that are any good. By tips, I don't mean the rubber or metal tips, but the short section of tubing they are attached to, if any are built like this.

Dances with Mices hiking staff sounds very nice. The right wood is very competitive to aluminum for something like this, and can beat the crap out of anything in terms of its aesthetics.

http://www.therangerdigest.com/Tips___Tricks/tips___tricks.html

go to link, click on "walking sticks" on left

That Ranger Rick fellow does a lot of very cool stuff.
Also get the impression he doesn't give a crap what people think.
Nice place to be if you can get there.

yea, I imagine him to be Sgt. Rock and L. Wolf morphed onto one person!

"yea, I imagine him to be Sgt. Rock and L. Wolf morphed onto one person!"
now THAT is funny...and scary!
yeah i enjoy his site. he has some cool stuff.

You guys are being way too high tech. Far stronger than aluminum is a simple wooden hiking staff. My original has at least 4,000 miles on it. It did all of Maine in 1991, 95 percent of the Appalachian Trail in 1993, hundreds of miles of blue-blazed trail also in 1993 -- and at least 1,500 miles of trails since then. It's still as strong as ever. Its just under five feet long, weighs nine ounces and was fashioned from an alder stick left by a trail-clearing crew at the foot of a western Maine waterfall.

I made a second hiking pole with a similar alder stick I cut especially in the woods. Alder swamps are everywhere in the northeast. The basic staff again weighs nine ounces, but on the new version, I added a two ounce leather wrist strap and hand grip, topped by round cork ball with an imbedded compass.

Both sticks have 69 cent crutch tips to aid traction and prevent wear from contact with the ground and trailside rocks.

I suppose they could be broken, but not easily. I use the current version all the time while bushwhacking to knock dead branches off pine, spruce and hemlock trees that impede my passage. One whack would destroy a Leki pole.

I've also made lighter versions. But I've found that a single nine ounce pole meets my needs. It keeps me upright and eases passage up and down hills, and doubles as a monopod for my camera. The wrist strap combination came from Komperdell and cost $10 or so. It's not really needed. I find I rarely use it for anything other than a hand grip.

The big advantage over aluminum is that the whole pole with it's irregular natural configurations serves as multiple hand grips. Once the alder sapling is cut, I can fashion a new pole in a few minutes. I peel most of the bark to reduce weight and give the pole a more finished look.

When we visited Alaska last spring two hikers asked me where they could buy a pole like it.

Weary

anybody ever make one? no, im not talking about picking up a stick. i have some of the cheaper wally world collapsible hiking poles and was thinking about gutting them to make one static length pole. anybody done that before?

Thats why we had been talking high tech weary. I agree, wood is good, better in this case.

Wood has some excellent sound and vibration deadening qualities also.
Also, it comes already perfectly tapered if you get the right section.

A natural wood section could be modified somewhat, if it was fun to do. You could use a light softwood like Spruce for example, for a thicker section, and then dry it out to make it lighter and stiffer and give it a clear coat of epoxy, or varnish. I would epoxy the ends for sure, and add a metal tip, but maybe use a nice marine spar varnish for the length. You could also try hollowing out the upper end some, but I don't think weight is such an issue on that end. You may want to store something in there though. Bamboo is not a bad choice either.

but you dont understand! its winter. its cold and rainy out. i want to piddle in my garage and build things!!!!!!

anybody ever make one? no, im not talking about picking up a stick. i have some of the cheaper wally world collapsible hiking poles and was thinking about gutting them to make one static length pole. anybody done that before?

Go to your local hardware store and buy a replacement broom or mop handle. The ones I've used are about 5 feet long and made of a strong, strait, tight grained wood that has one end rounded and the other end tapered. The tapered end goes down, now just add things like a rope lanyard or handle in the place that's right for you.

sigh. that makes a lot of sense. and i might do that. but that aint as much fun.

Winter is the best time to cut staves though. Well its a bit early maybe. Maybe not. Not sure. Perhaps it doesn't matter much for softwoods. Again, not sure. Part of the reason wood was cut in winter was it was actually easier to get in and out that time of year, and not much else to do. But for certain woods, like for bows and other things, it makes a difference.

A broomstick or dowel is not a bad choice, but the advantage of a real tree or branch is that it will have all the grains unscathed, and just the right taper if you find the right section. Also there is a much better selection of woods in the woods. :)

sigh. that makes a lot of sense. and i might do that. but that aint as much fun.

Come on, theres always time for some widdlin', carve something into it, or better yet, start making some new stove designs (as if zelph and skids haven't put enough out).

I cut a piece of bamboo growing near a local creek, sanded it down, put a crutch tip on the end and that was that.

Great excuse to get out in the woods and chop around. Err, I meant shop around. Anyhow, when you find something suitable cut it and try and remove the bark somehow without disturbing the layers underneath. You can then sand it down some and plane off branches and stuff but leave the layers as they are for strength, and for water resistance also. Trees grow that way for many good reasons. So look for the perfect taper before you cut. Also be sure and thank the tree and take from a thicket that won't mind the thinning.

Might want to check with the owner also. ;)

but you dont understand! its winter. its cold and rainy out. i want to piddle in my garage and build things!!!!!!


It sounds like Me, I just spent part of the day making a gasified wood stove. I don't need another stove, but I just wanted to go out in the garage and play with camping stuff... :o

You can make a set using graphite golf shafts. Up to around 50 in. no problem, need extenders for longer. You just need to buy the tips. Good golf shafts for treking pole around $14, tips $7, use over sized golf grips $4. Most golf shops will even put togeather for you if you buy shaft and grips from then. I made a set for around $45. 13 oz for the pair.

I bought a set of bamboo cross country ski poles at Goodwill for $3. I cut them to length and took the baskets off. I have about 300 miles on them so far. Very little sign of wear, they are light and are very tough.

It sounds like Me, I just spent part of the day making a gasified wood stove. I don't need another stove, but I just wanted to go out in the garage and play with camping stuff... :o

i know!!! i just "invented" a folding drawing board out of coroplast...that is some amazing stuff....out of boredom and anxiousness.

Back in the day before "trekking poles" we just used old ski poles. In fact, the only reason I have th e new fangled collapsible poles is because I wanted to be able to take public transportation to the trail head.

It helped a lot... a whole lot... when my friend split up with his girlfriend after she had given him a nice pair of Lekis, and he hates hiking!

I have made many hiking staffs of various wood over the years , but my favorite I have had for more than 40 years. It has quite a few thousand miles on it now and has seen and been most everywhere no. America has to offer. [ it's about 1 1/2 ft shorter than it started out as though, ha ha] I have since learned to put on a rubber cane/chair tip.

same thing happened to mine... it was a 1'' piece of elm i'd cut as a scout, probably around age 11 or 12... it got shorter.

so about a year ago, i cut a nice oak sapling just a tad over 6'' long, shaved the bark off, hung it inside to dry for several months last winter, and then added a metal tip (found it at one of the hikers' shops in gatlinburg. about $5). excellent cujo stick, stream crosser, probe, and tarp corner keeper-upper. oh, and eases my aching back up and down steeper sections too. a bit heavy though, but as i whittle on it, it's getting lighter.

I use an old bamboo ski pole which I cut the basket off of. Very light and strong.

I have been using a thin piece of bamboo for years. I just recently epoxy and thread reinforced the bottom because it had started to split. It's lighter than a freinds Leki poles!

well it got bored last night and went full steam ahead, despite the warnings of icebergs. yes....i riveted it.
i will take pics today and post. for all those like me, who really need help....

same thing happened to mine... it was a 1'' piece of elm i'd cut as a scout, probably around age 11 or 12... it got shorter.

so about a year ago, i cut a nice oak sapling just a tad over 6'' long, shaved the bark off, hung it inside to dry for several months last winter, and then added a metal tip (found it at one of the hikers' shops in gatlinburg. about $5). excellent cujo stick, stream crosser, probe, and tarp corner keeper-upper. oh, and eases my aching back up and down steeper sections too. a bit heavy though, but as i whittle on it, it's getting lighter.
I have a staff made out of oak. It was mostly an experiment -- a failed experiment. It's too heavy. I use if for special tasks -- like to pry a bog bridge back level and in place after it's been dislodged by flooding water.

I don't pretend to have tried all common woods. But so far alder seems to work best. I find it is amazingly strong and amazingly light weight -- and amazingly easy to find at least around here. Also landowners rarely complain when you cut a piece since most consider alder a worthless weed tree.

Weary

This site has a page on making a homemade hiking stick

http://www.backpacking.net/makegear.html (http://www.backpacking.net/makegear.html)

I would just buy a wax wood staff. very light and very strong and probably safer than an aluminum concoction.

I don't have hiking poles, but I use to work in the Golf industry and I always thought that old graphite shafts from say a... 3 wood with a new grip on it would work nicely, and I don't think it would be too hard to fashion some sort of strap to them either. they are strong and deffinitely Lightweight... you could probably find them at a goodwill or a yard sale if you don't have any old ones yourself.

I took a 6 foot Bo staff, cut it down to 5 1/2 feet, put a rubber cot on one end (ya know, like the kind used for canes), cut a small hole in the other end about 4 inches down, and tied a leather string through it. Now I can hike with support, defend myself (bought the tape), and support tarps. Dang heavy, tho.

Johnny Thunder, change the dancing baby avatar and we'll all chip in and buy you a ski pole :D

Seriously, get a hiking friend from a place where snow and skiing happen to pick you up a used pole at Goodwill. Ski poles preform better than any other non-wood hiking staffs available IMO. Some companies have tried, but improving on perfection is tough.....

you know, i would have changed that avatar long ago...when i tired of it, except for all the people complaining to management about it. fact is that it was one of the standard option avatars available,...not one i brought in with me. and since it pissed so many people off i decided to keep it. im funny that way.
i cant find any ski poles...the skiing texans that migrate to colorado in the winter must have bought them all.
oh, and johnny thunder might get mad at being mistaken for me.

i cant find any ski poles...the skiing texans that migrate to colorado in the winter must have bought them all.
oh, and johnny thunder might get mad at being mistaken for me.

Check again. People who got new equipment for Christmas will be dumping their old stuff.

I have a little dogwood staff cut to use as the center pole (...actually the only pole...) of my Black Diamond Megalite. I use a bit of closed cell foam pipe insulation to make a handhold and a loop of nylon webbing. The foam and webbing are held on with hockey stick tape.

After I saw what happened to a larger version of my staff, The Stick, after it completed a thru-hike (...see The Thread for reference...) I epoxied a small metal cylinder to cover and protect the ground end.


I also have a dogwood stave.......actually picked up a hiking stick point that I applied to the end. Whittled the end and applied Liquid Nail inside to fill any gaps and keep it from wiggling, then put a small brad nail through to hold in place.

You can also do the same with a copper fitting for terminating copper tubing. Get the diameter you need, but slightly smaller for tighter fit. Drill a small hole through the side for brad nail to secure. A dab of Liquid Nail applied across bottom and sides. Slip on and wipe off the excess. Secure with nail.

Dogwood is light and strong......makes a good hiking stick.

http://www.luxurylite.com/ssindex.html

I'm thinking about getting one of these.

http://www.luxurylite.com/ssindex.html

I'm thinking about getting one of these.

that is where i started, hurley. and one day i might still get one.

Before buying a set I used bamboo. Worked very well.

ok, heres what i built. its 59 inches from stem to stern. made of 5 sections of two 3-section walmart hiking poles. riveted a bazillion times. wrapped in 550 cord and capped with a rubber chair leg end. as a added benefit i epoxied a threaded piece to hold a camera at the top.
2979

2980

2981

Instead of the rubber chair leg tip, you might want to think of one of these tips:

http://www.fashionablecanes.com/70007.html

That way, with the camera on the top, you can jam the staff into the ground and put your camera on auto-shot to take pictures of yourself when no one else is around.

Plus they look cooler than a rubber tip....

The rubber tip always reminds me of an old man's walking cane for some reason.

Nice job, BTW.....sorry, multiple posts.......I type faster than I think

this is very interesting but help me out...how does it work? how does the screw fit in?

You taper the end of the hiking stick, predrill a hole in the bottom, slide the point over the end of the stick and place screw through bottom to hold it on. The screw goes through the tip, up into the staff. Make sure you predrill it, though, or it will split your staff down the middle like a wedge.

I have one on my staff.....only difference is that it has a set nail that goes in the side versus the bottom.

They are pretty cool in the since that your staff doesn't wear on the bottom and doesn't wick up water from the ground.

And, by jabbing it in the ground, you don't have to lean it up against a tree.....and forget that you placed it there......

There are other types, BTW......just google Combi Tip

And, like I said earlier, placing a small amount of Liquid Nail in the tip to fill in any uneven areas is a good idea. Keeps the jiggling down from a tip that doesn't fit quite right.

oh, ok, i was confused. or rather i confused you. since my hiking staff is made from a pair of storebought hiking sticks i have a regular carbide (?) tip with the rubber cover ...that most hiking poles have...for the bottom. its the top that i put the furniture or cane tip on. it covers the screw point for the camera

In the immortal words of Gilda Radner..........."Never Mind"